For conflict journalists, a need for first-aid training

Stop the bleeding. It's a critical and
fundamental step in aiding a journalist or anyone wounded in conflict. Hemorrhage
is the number one preventable death on the battlefield. And yet large numbers
of journalists covering wars and political unrest all across the world are
untrained in this life-saving skill. It doesn't need to be that way.

As deputy director of Reporters
Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC), I was asked by CPJ to prepare an
internal report on the medical needs of conflict journalists. RISC was founded
by journalist Sebastian Junger
after his close friend and colleague, the acclaimed photojournalist Tim
Hetherington, died in Libya in April 2011 from wounds sustained in a mortar
attack. Our nonprofit organization provides specialized battlefield first-aid
courses free of cost to freelance conflict journalists. CPJ was an early sponsor
of RISC and continues to support the project.

After researching casualties among conflict
journalists and the hostile environment training programs available in the
profession, it became clear to me that the need for such first-aid training
among conflict journalists, particularly freelancers, is far from being met.

CPJ data show that gunfire and
exploded ordnance (including mortars, missiles, improvised explosive
devices, suicide bombs, and grenades) are the main causes
of combat deaths among journalists. But wounds sustained from these weapons are
not always fatal if someone is able to slow or stop the bleeding until the
injured person reaches professional medical care. Reporters often travel in
groups to stay safe, but few have been trained in this most basic skill--one
that can save the lives of their colleagues.

"Tim's wound did not have to be fatal,
but it killed him nevertheless," said Junger, who spoke with a combat medic
after Hetherington's death. "His femoral artery had been cut, and although that
is an extremely serious injury, there are things that can be done to prolong
life. Unfortunately, none of the journalists or rebels around him knew what to
do, and Tim bled out and died in the back of a pickup truck on the way to the
Misurata hospital."

While most news organizations train
their employees before sending them to cover conflict, many also rely on the
work of freelancers, the vast majority of whom are untrained. The cost of
traditional hostile environment training is prohibitive for most freelance
journalists. I interviewed 12 journalists for my report, nine of whom were
freelancers. Almost all had little or no first-aid training. Most said they
didn't know colleagues who had been trained. No one had even heard of a
freelancer being formally trained.

"It's just not the norm," said Jon Lee Anderson, a writer
for The New Yorker who has covered
combat zones as a freelancer since the early 1980s. One freelance photographer
I spoke to said that most journalists she knows show up to war zones "wildly
unprepared." Journalists with little field experience or training flooded into
restive countries across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 because
access was often easy and many of the popular uprisings started relatively
peacefully. Since the Tunisian revolution in December 2010, at least 21
journalists have been killed in the region while covering combat or dangerous
assignments such as street protests.

It's not as if freelancers spurn the opportunity for first-aid
training. On the contrary: The demand far outstrips the supply. Just one month
after opening registration for our battlefield first-aid courses, RISC had
received nearly 200 applications from freelance conflict journalists around the
world who were eager to be trained. Many applicants had been reporting in
conflict zones for years without any form of training, and several cited the
high cost of hostile environment courses.

One applicant said he had been trained in the past, but it
was "horribly expensive" and he had put off renewing his certification because
of the cost. Another said she had long wanted to participate in training, but
the costs are "far beyond my budget as a freelancer."

There are a few organizations that provide support to
journalists who want to participate in security training or borrow safety
equipment. The Rory Peck Trust,
which was established in memory of the freelance cameraman killed while filming
in Moscow in 1993, offers both monetary and in-kind resources to freelancers
for security trainings. Reporters
Without Borders offers free, basic first-aid kits and two-month loans of body
armor, helmets, and personal distress beacons.

The journalist security field is
evolving, as illustrated in CPJ's
new guide for reporters. Hostile environment courses, once focused on
coverage in traditional war zones, have broadened in scope in recent years to
adapt to the changing nature of conflict. The International News Safety Institute has worked with local governments and organizations to develop
country-specific training. Other training programs have developed curricula tailored for coverage of civil unrest, terrorism, and
organized crime, along with addressing sexual assault and the emerging risk of
digital surveillance.

The safety of conflict
journalists has gained prominence in the past year as a number of well-known
correspondents, both staff and freelance, died while covering the Middle East unrest:
The deaths of Marie Colvin, Anthony Shadid, Tim Hetherington, and Chris Hondros
underline the need for a greater understanding of how fatalities can be minimized.
There is also room for more debate on the legal and ethical responsibilities
that news organizations ought to bear in preparing the freelance journalists who
work for them from the front lines.

In the meantime, we can start with
a basic step: Train conflict journalists to stop the bleeding.

Lily Hindy is deputy director of Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC). She holds a master’s degree in international security policy from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

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Comments

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Regards;